Finishing your ski season? What next?

POSTED : 09/04/2018

Fed up of the cold after finishing your ski season and now craving some sunshine? Want to travel the world? As we are getting to the end of the ski season, it’s common for seasonaires to wonder what to do next and how to progress their careers during the summer season. Never fear, we’re here to answer that question! Below is a selection of options we think would be great ways to fill your summer, develop your experience, all while having lots of fun!

Option One – Stay in the alps – Come work in a summer chalet!

You’ve fallen in love with the mountains over your ski season and couldn’t think of living or working anywhere else – who could blame you? There are certainly jobs available for chalet staff over the summer period, they’re a lot rarer than ski season roles, however, they are out there! Morzine, Les Gets and Chamonix are just as busy during the summer as the winter, and with a whole range of summer sports to get involved with, whether it is hiking, cycling, climbing or photography, there’ll always be an adventure waiting for you.

Option Two – Stay in Europe – Come work in a summer villa!

Work in a summer villa is very comparable to chalet work, the staff roles are similar to your ski season positions, and the positions are completely transferable, unlike in a private household. The wages are slightly higher too, on average £100 more a week, this is usually to account for a lift pass not being included in the pay packet. Working in a villa is the perfect way to fill your summer, save up some money, and progress your career ready for when you can hit the slopes again.

Option Three – Leave the Alps – Come work in a private household in the UK!

If you’d like to continue a hospitality role but be back working in the UK during the summer, we’d recommend starting your career in a private household. The roles are fairly similar to chalet jobs, yet the salaries are almost double! It’s important for private household applicants to already have lots of 5* hospitality experience.

The easiest way to start a career in a private household is to start at the bottom and work your way up. Very few private households will recruit a medium or high-level staff member without previous experience within a private residence performing a simpler or similar role. The normal progression is from a Housekeeper, Nanny and Cook, to Head Housekeeper and Chef, to House Manager, Butler, PA and even Estate Manager. If, however, you have lots of experience doing a ski season as a Chalet or Resort Manager, you may be eligible for an entry level House Manager role within the private industry.

The salaries possible within a private household are definitely worth the long days, and hard work climbing the ladder, and the experience gained will catapult your career onto a whole new playing field. Private household roles are generally all permanent positions and can be either live-in or live-out, depending on the family, so you have the freedom to select a role which suits your lifestyle and needs. This is also a good opportunity for couples who would like to continue working together, there are many homes who like to employ a couple to manage the household.

Option Four – Leave the Alps – Gain further experience!

Another great option if you’re a seasonaire returning to the UK is to develop your CV working in hotels and restaurants. The majority of luxury, high end winter chalets require a few years of 5* hospitality experience. If you’re looking to work your way up the ladder in the hospitality industry, we recommend spending the summer gaining further experience to really help you get those top end, well-paid jobs within the industry.

We don’t usually recruit for hotels or restaurants, but if you are interested then it is always worth sending your CV expressing an interest in this kind of role and we can notify you when new roles come in. Remember to send and resend your CV to us at enquiries@silverswanrecruitment.com as soon as you have a new role to add to it, to apply for all future roles!

Option Five – Leave the Alps – Come find an office-based role in the UK!

You love the ski season industry, and now have experience working within it, but after working all those odd hours on your feet you’re now ready to settle down with a permanent position in an awesome office.

There are often positions working in the UK for recruitment firms, or for companies that work within the ski industry that need staff who have personal experience working a ski season to help sell holidays, find future staff, or help sell chalets out in the Alps.

These jobs get snapped up quickly, so do keep an eye on our FB page as we post new roles every single day! Come and follow us here to be the first to hear about all our new positions as soon as they become available: www.facebook.com/SilverSwanRecruitment/

Option Six – Leave the Alps – Come work aboard a yacht for the summer!

This option takes a little bit of forward planning, as you need to be certified before you can work aboard a yacht. All members of yacht staff need to have an STCW (Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers) Certificate. In order to gain this qualification, you must do a 5-day course which costs approximately £800 – £1000. You must also get an ENG1 Certificate from your local GP, this is a free, seafarer medical fitness certificate. If you don’t yet have these certificates, you’re a little late to get a yacht job for this summer due to the time it takes to accomplish the course and receive the paperwork. However, if yacht work does take your fancy, we recommend doing the courses this summer and contacting us next February once you have a little experience to apply for our summer yacht roles.

If you do have an STCW certificate but are completely new to yachting it is important to note that it is rare that a yacht will pay a recruitment agency for someone without any yachting experience, regardless of the amount of private land-based experience you have. This is because they can easily pick up candidates new to the industry from the docks, so as an agency we won’t be able to help at this stage. But don’t worry! There are plenty of yachts who are happy to employ new yachties, they just can’t justify paying an agency for the introduction.

We recommend checking into a crew house for a couple of weeks in Antibes or Palma and go dock walking to meet boats face to face while being around and socialising with other yacht staff. This is often the easiest route into your first position, and once you then have a little experience, agencies will be much more likely to be able to place you.

Option Seven – Go travelling!!

The world is your oyster, why not go explore the four corners of the world and visit places you’ve only ever seen in photos! Just make sure you send us your CV in the summertime, so we can find you a job to come home to next ski season. By May 2018 we will have a whole range of positions available for ski chalets in France, Austria, Switzerland and further. Make sure you add the following link to your favourites so you can check out your future job options while on the road: www.silverswanrecruitment.com/ski-chalet-jobs/

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